Don't worry. None of this blood is mine.

Horus Heresy Research…

IMPERIAL ROBOTS - The greatest band name ever.

Here’s a little look into Horus Heresy research. Recently, I received the wad of pages in the above pic, which is for The First Heretic, among other things. From this picture you’ll note two things: Firstly, that I’m holding lore that was officially released when I was 8 years old, which is pretty mental. (Seriously, it has a dreadnought called “Chuck”. This is wacky jazz.) Secondly, that I really need to shave my head, but am intensely lazy.

Anyway, the reason I have this info is because I asked for it.

I promised you e-whores a look into Horus Heresy emails, and here it is, cut and pasted. This is me, in email form:

— — —

Dear Editors and Those Other Guys on the HH Team,

Hi, I’m Aaron Dembski-Bowden. You might remember me from such moments as choking on my own awkward fanboyishness, or that time Alan Merrett looked at me like I was a babbling retard and asked if I knew the difference between Chaos Marines and Possessed Chaos Marines.

Good times. Perhaps the best times.

I’m here today to talk not about the failures of the past, but the glories of the future. In short, I have a question. Or a point to raise. Or… whatever. I have some words that require other words in reply.

I think we vaguely agreed to mention the Legio Cybernetica a little more, and that’s something I really want to do in The First Heretic, after Graham nailed it hardcore in A Thousand Hypocrites. That’s a noble intent, I’m sure you’d agree, but I have a problem with it. See, the last time the Legio Cybernetica was mentioned in published canon, my body was principally composed of sperm, and the fateful night resulting in my genesis was still a mistake yet to come.

More seriously, I’ve seen references here and there over 20 years of slavering fandom (most significantly in Adeptus Titanicus, which I once owned with a fat kid’s pride) but that was all a long time ago. A really long time ago, and I wasn’t revising the stuff with the foreknowledge that I’d need it for my career one day. I just thought robots were cool. I hope you can forgive my naivety, and that we can all still be friends.

In short, where can I get more stuff about the Imperium’s robotic jazz? I remember the old Cataphract (and Crusader, I think) robot models from when I was about 11 years old, but I can’t recall with 100% clarity if they later evolved into Knights or not. They sound like Knight classes to me. Incidentally, I remember the Cataphract robots because that’s when I learned what cataphract meant. That’s today’s Aaron Fact. Please enjoy it at your leisure.

Now let’s all take a moment to thank In Flames and Monster Magnet for being the greatest bands in the history of ever.

tl;dr — Alex, can you send me some photocopies of canonical Legio Cybernetica stuff? As much fun as making things up can be, I don’t want to directly contradict anything out of ignorance. Many thankies.

Also:
“See, the last time the Legio Cybernetica was mentioned in published canon, my body was principally composed of sperm, and the fateful night resulting in my genesis was still a mistake yet to come.”—that line might possibly be the most ridiculous thing I’ve read yet on your blog.

I think it would be wise to acquire Mcneil’s HH ‘Mechanicum’ novel as it delves into a lot of mechanicus & related material which was pretty much a virgin before Mcneil decided to deflower and add more to the fluff.

This also goes for Abnett’s ‘Titanicus’ novel.

You might also want to try and acquire the rules/background books of the cult classic Epic 40K wargame ‘Titan Legions’ which as far as I can remember was released after ‘Adeptus Titanicus’ and adds more to the fluff.

Also, you might also want to check out the several Forgeworld ‘Imperial Armour’ volumes that might contain pieces of info related to the Legio Cybernetica.

You might also want to dig in the old ‘Citadel Journel’ issues which might offer you something you thought you’d never find.

Other than that, I wish you luck for your hunt of heretic tomes and arcana 😉

I dug through all of my Imperial Armour books not long ago while pondering how to pin something, and I gotta say…I don’t think Forge World will be a help. I’m only missing a few. Aeronautica Imperialis, IA2,and the IA Apocalypse books and
I got absolute jackshit from them in regards to the Legio Cybernetica.

IA4(Anphelion Project) has some stuff about the research projects of the Mechanicus, IA3 has some stuff about the Titan Legions, and the Vraks books have a bit about the more obscure armour pieces that showed up like the Minotaurs and the like.

I’m the same way. I grow my hair long in the back (and have done so for, oh… about 14 years now. Yeesh.) and tie it off as something vaguely resembling a ponytail. Every couple of years, I decide “Y’know what, fuck it. I’m going to just grow all of my hair out long and make this a proper ponytail and tie it all back.” Then, six months later, my hair is still not long enough for this purpose and looks like complete and utter shit because its natural state is curly/wavy and grows very slowly. So I say ‘okay, fine’ and go ahead and get it trimmed.

And it’s been thinning on top for the last several years, thus sparing me from looking like I’ve got a mullet if I don’t have the hair tied in the back.

…ah man, jeeeez, you almost had me there…I almost felt sympathy for such a young talent losing his hair at such an early age :P…now I know that isn’t the case, have you ever considered waxing it off? You’d be left with better markings than Erebus that’s for sure.

This is not A Few Good Men… And you kinda’ are on trial: I was planning to dig out my copy of Cadian Blood; which I didn’t realised you had written – which shall be my first venture into your work, instead of the ordered Soul Hunter.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is the best name for a band. Also, didn’t Roddy Bottum have a band called Imperial Teen?

What was that robot called in Collected Visions? It was one of the ancient Egyptian titles for Horus. Graham McNeil wrote the story, he’ll know. The Dark Mechanicum taught it to kill.

Remember weird flow charts for robots? The more complicated they were, the more expensive they were:
“Is there an enemy in weapons range? If yes, stand and shoot. If no, move toward the enemy.” Hey! These are the new Tyranid rules!

Just checked my copy of the 40K Compendium and as well as the article on Imperial Robots, the article on Dreadnoughts has a page at the end titled “Robot Classes and Livery” with a bunch of colour schemes. The pastel pink and green Slaanesh robot is nasty.

shit that makes me feel old. i have a conquerer and a crusader in my vault along with the adeptus titanicus and the book suppliment. i feel a repaint coming on. forgeworld could have a field day revisiting the robots, and more mechanicum….

Who? Why?

My name’s Aaron W Dembski-Bowden.

Don’t ask about the W – let’s just forget it exists and forgive my parents for a bizarre choice of middle name. Y’know, I used to tell people it stood for Wolfgang, but no one ever believed me. I’m not a skilled liar.

I write a lot, and people pay me to do it. I argue a lot, but I do that for free. If you want to start paying me to argue, please apply within. My rates would be generous, and my cynical wrath without peer.

I have a cat, but I prefer dogs. Most of my clothes are black, but my favourite colour is orange. I was born in a really dark, grim patch of London, but I moved to the greenest parts of Northern Ireland. This last factoid arises from being in love with a beautiful Irish girl who foolishly agreed to marry me – and that it’s easier to write out here in the middle of nowhere with only fields, cats, and hot redheads for company.